Tag: Demonstration

Oakland man to sue for injury in Israel protest

Bob Egelko | The San Francisco Chronicle

14 September 2009

An Oakland man who was seriously wounded by a tear gas projectile fired by Israeli police during a West Bank protest will file suit despite a military report concluding that he was engaged in an “act of war,” his lawyers said Sunday.

The case of Tristan Anderson, who remains hospitalized with brain damage and a fractured skull six months after he was injured, may test Israel’s efforts to shield itself from lawsuits for harm it causes during wartime, said attorney Michael Sfard.

Anderson’s lawyers said Israel’s Ministry of Defense has told them the demonstrators threw stones and other objects at police, who acted in self-defense.

The Ministry of Defense, Sfard said in an e-mail message, “is trying to apply the (act of war) doctrine to every (case of) damage caused in the occupied Palestinian territories by Israeli forces.”

Anderson, 38, was among a group of about 400 Palestinian and international demonstrators who gathered March 13 in the town of Naalin, near the wall Israel is building along its border to keep Palestinians out.

The wall cuts off parts of the West Bank, including a portion of Naalin, and is the site of frequent protests.

Anderson was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired from about 65 yards away by a border police officer, according to some fellow demonstrators. He had brain surgery at Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv and is no longer in critical condition, but is blind in his right eye, friends say.

His parents, Nancy and Michael Anderson of Grass Valley (Nevada County), report that he has regained consciousness and they are optimistic about his recovery, said Lea Tsemel, an Israeli civil rights lawyer who represents the family.

However, she said she believes Tristan Anderson will be permanently disabled.

Before going to Israel, Anderson was one of the tree-sitters who until last September occupied a grove next to UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium in an unsuccessful bid to stop the university from clearing the trees to make room for an athletic center.

This summer, Anderson’s lawyers received a letter from Israel’s Ministry of Defense saying its preliminary investigation had cleared government forces of wrongdoing.

“The border police force was attacked massively by about 400 demonstrators who threw blocks, stones and gas rockets,” the letter said, according to Tsemel’s translation. “The police sincerely feared that they would be hurt. … In these circumstances, we are talking about an act of war. Accordingly, the state is not responsible for any damages.”

Tsemel said numerous witnesses contradict the ministry’s report.

“He was demonstrating. He didn’t have any weapon. He was a peacenik. … Nothing was endangering the soldiers,” the attorney said in a telephone interview from her home in Israel.

While some demonstrators have thrown stones at soldiers, Tsemel said, there was no evidence of any violent activity by Anderson.

Sfard, who also represents Anderson, said the Ministry of Defense was trying to extend the “act of war” defense from armed conflicts to police responses against civilian demonstrators.

Tsemel said Anderson and his family would file suit shortly in either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. In addition to compensation, she said, “we want the army to investigate the event and bring to trial the border police person who shot at him and those who gave him the orders.”

Iraq Burin villagers meet to organize demonstrations

11 September 2009

A second meeting was held in Iraq Burin about protesting the annexation of the land of the village for nearby settlements. The meeting was held to encourage and inspire different ways of doing actions, demonstrations and protests, and began by showing the second part of the documentary Bil’in Habibti, picturing the struggle of Bil’in. The focus of the meeting was in particular on nonviolent resistance and alternative ways of protesting. There were around 30 men and male youths of different ages. Even though no debate followed, because of Ramadan, some of the youths expressed interest in nonviolent protest as a way of increasing the popular resistance. The demonstrations in Bil’in started with only a handful of people and then grew bigger every week, and the organizer of the meeting used this as an example to encourage the people of Iraq Burin to continue the resistance. They also plan to watch more movies about nonviolent resistance, for example from South Africa and India.

A demonstration is planned for the 25th or the 26th September. The villagers appreciate the support from international groups and would like an increase in their presence for future demonstrations.

In August, three demonstrations where held but they stopped because of Ramadan. The demonstrations were immediately met with excessive violence from settlers and Israeli soldiers. In the future the villagers want to improve the organization of the demonstrations in generally and follow the example of Bil’in to carry out stronger demonstrations. They wish to engage more of the local youth in the popular resistance.

Two injured and dozens suffered teargas inhalation during the weekly protest in Bil’in

Bil’in Popular Committee

11 September 2009

Two injured and dozens were suffocated in Bil’in due to tear gas which was thrown at them by the Israeli soldiers, during their participation in the weekly demonstration against the construction of the wall and settlements. The two: Ashraf Abu Rahmah and Khamees Abu Rahmah. As Bil’in citizens participated in a demonstration after Friday prayers, with a group of international peace activists and Israeli peace movements members, the demonstrators raised up the Palestinian flags and banners calling for an end the incursions, night raids and arrests, and calling for the release of all detainees, and to stop building settlement and the confiscations of Palestinian lands.

The demonstrators walked in the village streets’, chanting national slogans condemning the occupation polices, and when the demonstrators approached the gate of the wall which they tried to open, the Israeli soldiers sprayed them with gas and sound bombs, causing tow injured and dozens of suffocation cases.

On the other hand, a delegation from the German and Swedish diplomats visited the village yesterday as they have listened to an explanation from the Popular Committee in Bil’in on the experience of their resistance to the wall. Subsequently they have toured to the wall thus they saw the negative effects caused by the wall on the villagers. Although they have seen the yards around the wall full of empty sound and gas bombs, which were used to suppress the demonstrators.

At another level, the Popular Committee condemned the Israeli government decisions relating to increasing housing units in settlements and land confiscation. As the popular committee called the International organizations to move quickly to stop such schemes, and called for boycotting punishment procedures against Israel. Although at the official level the committee has asked the PA for an Arabic and International action, in order to stop such occupation schemes. While at the popular level, the committee has invited the citizens to get out into the streets in popular protest marches and demonstrations with participation of international and Israeli peace movements to defend their land.

Palestine’s peaceful struggle

Mohammed Khatib | The Nation

11 September 2009

A few weeks ago, in the dead of night, dozens of Israeli soldiers with painted faces burst violently into my home. If only they had knocked, I would have opened the door. They arrested me. My wife, Lamia, was left alone with our four children. My youngest, 3-year-old Khaled, woke up to the image of Israeli soldiers with painted faces who were taking his father away. He has not stopped crying since. A few nights ago he woke up in terror, sobbing: “Daddy, why did you let the soldiers take me?” That’s the way our children sleep–in a constant state of fear.

Many Americans know that the Obama administration has been pushing the Israeli government to accept a freeze on settlement construction. What is not commonly known is that even as Israel negotiates with the United States, it has been taking steps, including my arrest, to crush the growing Palestinian nonviolent movement opposing Israel’s construction of settlements and the wall on Palestinian land in the West Bank.

For over five years the residents of Bil’in and other villages have been protesting against Israel’s separation wall, which cuts off our village’s land for the sake of Israeli settlement expansion. We have even taken the struggle to the courts. The International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled in July 2004 that the wall, where it has been built inside the West Bank, is illegal under international law, as are all Israeli settlements. In September 2007, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the wall in Bil’in, which separates us from 50 percent of our land, is illegal according to Israeli law. The wall has yet to have moved.

The Israeli army is using more-lethal weapons and greater violence against protesters, and arresting many people, including many protest organizers. In Bil’in alone, twenty-nine residents have been arrested in the past three months. Twelve of them are children. Almost all were arrested during military raids in the middle of the night. Their detention has been extended repeatedly.

But the charges against them are baseless. As one example, I have been charged with stone throwing. I was released on bail with draconian terms only after my lawyers showed the court passport stamps proving that I was abroad at the time of the alleged offense. My friend, Adeeb Abu-Rahme, 37 years old and the father of nine, has been imprisoned for more than six weeks, though the charges against him are just as absurd.

Every Friday in Bil’in, we march to the wall in peaceful protest, along with our Israeli and international partners. Once a year we hold an international conference about the popular nonviolent struggle. Together we learn and gain inspiration. We struggle together to bring down the many walls between people that the occupation is creating. We’ve repeatedly addressed the Israeli soldiers here, telling them we are not against them as people, but that we oppose their actions as an occupying military force.

Still, nineteen demonstrators have been killed by the Israeli army in these nonviolent demonstrations against the wall. Many have been injured, including Israeli and international activists protesting with us. Here in Bil’in we recently lost our friend Bassem Abu Rahme, who was fatally shot by soldiers in April while he was imploring them to stop shooting at demonstrators.

Several months ago we were warned by Israel’s occupation forces that they intended to crush the popular struggle.

Why has the Israeli government decided now to increase the suppression of demonstrations and to break the spirit of protest leaders? Maybe because they realize that the nonviolent struggle is spreading, that more and more villages have created popular committees that are organizing demonstrations. Perhaps the crackdown is a result of their concern and the growing international movement for the boycott of companies and businessmen such as Lev Leviev who are involved in Israel’s land grab. Or maybe they fear that the new American government could learn through our demonstrations that Israel’s wall is a means to annex land for the growing settlements, and that nonviolent Palestinian protests are being brutally suppressed.

Israel’s actions suggest that it is intimidated by people struggling for their rights in a nonviolent manner. The Israeli government seems to believe that Palestinians who struggle while partnering with Israeli activists endanger Israel’s occupation and that tearing down human walls is a dangerous act. Perhaps what the state of Israel fears most of all is the hope that people can live together based on justice and equality for all.

Benefit Sunday for former Berkeley tree sitter severely injured in Israel

Kristin Bender | The Oakland Tribune

9 September 2009

Six months after Tristan Anderson, a former UC Berkeley tree sitter and Bay Area activist, nearly died after being struck in the head with a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops, friends are holding a benefit Sunday to raise money for his recovery costs.

Anderson, 38, remains at a rehabilitation hospital near Tel Aviv and continues to have setbacks and infections after skull surgery last month, supporters said.

The operation came after doctors learned Anderson was suffering from post-traumatic hydrocephalus, a blockage of the ventricles — open spaces in the brain — that causes poor circulation of cerebral spinal fluid in the head, supporters said.

“His girlfriend, Gabrielle Silverman, and his parents are hopeful and giving Tristan as much encouragement and support as they can, even though by all appearances he is struggling to get better,” said friend Karen Pickett. “There has been progress, but there have been times when they have lost ground because there have been setbacks.”

Anderson, a freelance photojournalist, sustained life-threatening injuries March 13 as he was taking photographs after a regular Friday demonstration over Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, Pickett said. He was struck in the right temple with a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops, according to peace activists with the International Solidarity Movement.

His skull was fractured, and some of the bone fragments entered his brain, friends said. He sustained a large hole in his forehead where he was struck by the canister, and he was blinded in his right eye, friends said.

The benefit is at 8 p.m. Sunday at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave., in Berkeley. There will be music from Rebecca Riots, a female folk trio; the Funky Nixons; American Indian singer and songwriter Phoenix; spoken word, an art auction and an update on Anderson.

The doors open at 7:30 p.m., and organizers are asking for a donation of $5 to $20 to cover Anderson’s recuperation costs. The event is sponsored by Friends of Tristan and Palestine and the International Solidarity Movement. For details, call 510-548-3113 or visit justicefortristan.org.

“We are trying to raise as much money as we can in support of his recovery costs,” Pickett said. “But it’s also a time to raise support and let people know what is going on with Tristan, and to make the point that things are still serious and he needs continuing support.”

On the day Anderson, of Oakland, was injured, there were several hundred protesters in the West Bank town of Naalin, where Palestinians and international backers frequently had gathered to demonstrate against the barrier. Israel says the barrier is necessary to keep Palestinian attackers from infiltrating into Israel, but many Palestinians view it as a thinly veiled land grab because it juts into the West Bank at multiple points.

Before going to the Middle East, he was involved in the tree-sit at UC Berkeley to protest the building of a sports training center. That protest lasted 21 months, but Anderson, who was known as “Cricket” during the sit, did not sit in a tree the entire time.

It is not known how long he was in the trees, but he came down from his perch on June 19, 2008, and was given a stay-away order, police said.

He was found near the tree-sit the following day, arrested and sent to trial, where he was found not guilty. The tree-sit ended last September, when the university razed the trees.